I. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to an improved packaging arrangement for surgical materials and more specifically to a package which facilitates the handling and dispensing of elastic bands useful in occluding various body vessels during surgical procedures.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art:
Several years ago a product was made available to surgical personnel for facilitating the occlusion of blood vessels and other fluid transporting ducts in the body, this product taking the form of an elastic band having an oval cross-section and formed from a radiopaque siliconerubber material. These bands could be wrapped about the vessel to be occluded and secured in place by a suitable clamp. The product in question also is available in different colors, such that a predetermined color coding scheme can be utilized in readily identifying the type of vessel being occluded by that particular band.
In packaging such occluding bands for distribution and use within an operating room environment, it has been the practice in the past to merely include a plurality of bands in loose fashion within a folded paper or cardboard envelope. Once the envelope is opened, the individual bands fall loose and became entangled one with the other so that it has been somewhat cumbersome to rapidly select only a single band from the package for tying off a particular vessel. It is readily apparent that, in an operating room setting, loss of a very few seconds can result in serious consequences to the surgery patient.
The packaging scheme of the present invention is intended to overcome the foregoing prior art deficiency. That is, the packaging scheme described in detail herein allows one of a plurality of vessel occluding bands to be withdrawn from its sterile package without becoming tangled with similar bands remaining within this package.